Biological and reproductive parameters of Medfly, Ceratitis capitata (Dip.: Tephritidae), on some host plants under laboratory conditions

Mediterranean fruit fly، Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann)، is one of the most important pests of fruitcrops worldwide، and its outbreak has recently been reported in fruit orchards of northern Iran. In this study، the values of some important developmental and reproductive parameters، including percent daily oviposition (in both choice and non-choice tests)، larval and pupal developmental times، egg hatch percent of adult emergence and sex ratio were estimated on six different host plants (persimmon، citrus Unshiu، Thomson orange، Golden Delicious apple، red apple and peach) under laboratory conditions. Among the studied fruits، peach was determined as the most suitable host for Mediterranean fruit fly due to its high mean daily oviposition (4. 74 egg/female/day)، egg hatch (79. 62 percent) as well as short larval (10. 4 day) and pupal developmental times (7. 76 day). In contrast، Thomson orange was suggested as the least suitable host plant because of low mean daily oviposition and amount of egg hatch (0، and 67. 49 percent، respectively). Golden Delicious and red apples were also considered nutritionally poor hosts because of low mean daily oviposition (0. 56، and 1. 15 egg/female/day، respectively) and long larval developmental period (14. 84 and 24. 08 days، respectively). Because of high susceptibility of peach fruits to this pest، it is recommended to impose more restriction on establishing new peach orchards especially where mixed with citrus.